The Forgotten Yankee

The season is just nine games old, but so far Joe Girardi has gotten every player on the 25-man Opening Day roster into at least one game, most more than one. Except one guy: Gustavo Molina, who has yet to take the field and play. The backup catcher by default, Molina is only with the team because Frankie Cervelli had a foul ball break his foot and Jesus Montero underwhelmed in camp. A career .235/.295/.348 hitter in the minors, it’s easy to see why Girardi has hesitated to use him in a game.

It’s not all on Gus* though. His name was penciled into the starting lineup last Wednesday, but Mother Nature intervened and rained the game out. That allowed the team to skip Molina’s start just like Freddy Garcia‘s, keeping Russell Martin in the lineup. And it’s not like Martin has been overworked either. He’s started no more than four consecutive games at any point in the season so far, and it’s not like the sun has been beating down on him at this time of year. With the way he’s hitting, why would they want him out of the lineup anyway?

With the weather expected to clear up today and hopefully through the weekend, it looks like Molina’s first start is imminent. The Yankees will play in each of the next five days before Monday’s off-day, and I would be surprised if Girardi used his starting backstop in all five games. He knows all about the position, and four starts in five days seems to be the accepted limit for a catcher. Martin is playing well, but you don’t want to run him into the ground like Joe Torre did over the last few years and have him turn into a pumpkin come June.

Unfortunately for Gus, his time with the Yankees figures to be short lived. He might start this weekend, but he’s only keeping the job warm for Cervelli, who recently shed the boot and has resumed non-baseball workouts. Early-May sounds like a reasonable expectation for his return, but even if it’s not, Montero is hitting the snot out of the ball in Triple-A and could be called up at any moment. All of that means Molina is down to what is likely the last three weeks of his Yankees career.

But you know what? Gus will be able to tell his grand kids that he once played for the Yankees, and that alone is pretty cool. If things break right the rest of the season, he might even be able to show them his World Series ring. Now that would be cool.

* Yeah, I’m calling him Gus from now on. It’s an old-timey kind of New York name, and the Yankees could use a Gus.

If things break right the rest of the season, he might even be able to show them his World Series ring. Now that would be cool.

wilson betemit nods in agreement

jsbrendog

bold fail

http://www.twitter.com/tomzig Tom Zig

That’d be nice if Betemit had a ring. Poor sucker got traded in between the 08 and 09 seasons

jsbrendog

DOH. total fail

http://www.twitter.com/tomzig Tom Zig

Happens to the best of us Brendo.

Chris

Who was the pitcher that was up for one or two days in 2009, but never got in a game?

steve (different one)

Steven Jackson?

http://www.mystiqueandaura.com/ JMK

Yep.

Drew

Gus Sounds like the mutant offspring of two cousins from Alabama.

http://twitter.com/cephster Ross in Jersey

Or the name of a basset hound

nsalem

or a Zernial,or a Bell or a Johnson or a Firefly

Browncoat

Did someone mention FIREFLY??

nsalem

Rufus T Firefly

Sweet Dick Willie

Or Eddie Murphy’s uncle, from Delirious. You know, back when Eddie Murphy was actually funny.

TMiller

I didn’t know such a time existed.

king of fruitless hypotheticals

Axisa says they need a ‘Gus’ while another guy says Gus is like Sal–a good NY name, and you think Gus is an Alabama name?

/geoappellation fail’d

http://www.twitter.com/james_dasilva James d.

Two reasons Gus is a good name:
1. Gus Bell was a solid ballplayer and spawned longtime catcher Bob Boone, who spawned one-hit wonder Aaron.

2. A recent Gustavo on the Yanks who didn’t get nicknamed “Gus”: Karim Garcia

YankeesJunkie

Mike, it is great that you getting on such a personal level with some of the players, but come on, you can do better than Molina. I was really hoping that you and Nunez would become buddies and you can talk about how worthless of a baseball player he is.

http://www.twitter.com/yanksnats4ever Alex C.

Hehe it was Rosenthal the first one who I heard call him Gus first. I don’t know if he has been previously called that way before.